“Why would he do something like that?” said Betty Whitehill of Jackson, who with her husband adopted Stiles when she was 9.

“I feel so horrible for his mom. I know he was an only child,” she said. “It just breaks your hear that everything would come to this.”

His girlfriend has been missing since Nov. 18. It has not been determined whether he had anything to do with Stiles’ disappearance.

“This doesn’t look good that he has done this,” said Whitehill, who still is hoping she will get word from her daughter.

On Nov. 18, Stiles' boyfriend, Scott Steven Cassidy, called Whitehill and asked if Stiles was at Whitehill’s home on Fourth Street, Whitehill said.

Cassidy said he and Stiles had been arguing. Stiles told him if she was not home when he returned from work Nov. 18, he was to bring her possessions to Whitehill’s house, Whitehill said Cassidy told her.

Stiles, however, had never come to the Fourth Street house, Whitehill said.

The two had been living together on Orban Road for about a year and a half, Whitehill said.

He operated Cassidy Tree Service off his property, Whitehill and a friend of Stiles said, and Stiles was able to stay home with her young daughter.

“Scott always seemed like a very nice gentleman. He was a hard worker. He was always working,” Whitehill said.

At the time of his arrest, he was on probation. He pleaded guilty in March to a firearm offense and a marijuana crime, according to court records.